Jun. 2024
Framing the Hill Country
The experience of Narrow Path Winery isn’t always about what’s in the bottle. Sometimes it’s a proposal in the garden, a bee dancing in the flowerbeds, or a hot sun in a sky absent of clouds.
For this particular job, it was all three.
The assignment required camping out in the garden prior to the couple arriving. No problem.
It was hot, sure. But it’s a vineyard. So you wear a pant.
You arrive early, but you coordinate your exit from the air conditioned vehicle with the expected time of the couple’s arrival. I estimate it’ll take me approximately five minutes to use the restroom (a tell I’ve done this before), survey the garden, and nestle into position with 60 seconds to spare.
But 60 seconds comes & goes. Again and again. And the sun doesn’t care—if anything it’s laughing itself hotter and hotter as sweat pools up in my palms, my back, my brow, pretty much everywhere and all at once.
The bees then joined in on the mockery, boastful and brave as if they were egging each other on.
Then the couple arrives and their aimless stroll through the garden commences. I parry behind stalks of sunflowers, parting the foliage with the barrel of my lens. At any given moment he could drop to one knee. My finger twitched over the trigger.
Eventually they got into position and I took the photos and it all went great.
But every now and then, when the droning hum of honeybees draw near, I’m back in that garden.